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It is important to have a sign of classroom rules, so students can see it every day and practice them.

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All Are Welcome Classroom Collection | Carson Dellosa Education | Classroom Décor
In my classroom, I want to decorate it with bright colors and something that says all are welcome. Therefore, my classroom will feel warm and friendly.

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Number of players: Eight or more

You will need: Drawing paper, pencils or sketch pens

How to play:

1. Give each student a sheet of paper and a color pen.

2. Set the timer to one minute and ask the kids to draw anything they want using their color pen.

3. When the timer dings, pass the paper to the next person and continue the drawing on the paper they get.

Pass the sheets around for three or four rounds and see the result. It could be a collaborative masterpiece for all you know. (Makvana, 2021)
This would be a fun activity to do on a Friday for the students.

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Fun classroom games for kids are a great way to keep them engaged and learn creatively. If you have a classroom full of hyper-energetic and mischievous kids, getting them to focus and pay attention is a difficult task. However, introducing them to some fun games may be a creative way to involve them in the lessons and activities.

If you are looking for some games that children will enjoy playing in the classroom while also gaining knowledge, find below our curated list of classroom games that you can use. In addition, some of these games specifically focus on improving their language, art, and memory skills.

Fun Classroom Activities For Kids

Education is a serious business, but kids just want to have fun. So here are some fun ways to educate the children, seriously!

1. Buzz

There's no buzz word here. Only a buzz number or letter.

Buzz is an excellent game for younger kids who need to recite long lists such as a series of numbers, letters of the alphabet, and days of the month.

Number of players: Ten or more

You will need: A little preparation
How to play:
For example: 1, 2, 3, buzz, 5, 6, 7, buzz, 9,10,11, buzz...

Anyone who misses replacing the buzz word or number is out of the game.

2. Blind artist

This game is played in pairs and engages a child's imagination and ability to describe things.

Number of players: Four or more

You will need: Sheets of white paper, pencil, pen or sketch pens, drawings or images
How to play:
The idea is to see how accurate the drawing can be, when recreated without seeing.

3. Don't answer

When asked a question, the ideal thing to do is answer. But not when you are playing this game, which older kids and teens will enjoy playing.

Number of players: Ten or more
How to play:

1. One student starts by asking another student a random question. For example, "What is your one precious possession?"

2. But the student who was asked shall not answer. The student standing left to him or her will respond, whether or not they know the answer.

The game gets hilarious when students get imaginative and creative with their answers. 'Don't answer' is ideal for high school students.

4. Crazy train

Ideal for primary and kindergarten kids, the crazy train is a choo-choo train with added fun.

Number of players: Ten or more

You will need: Space to play
How to play:

1. Line up the kids to form a human choo-choo train.

2. Then shout-out commands such as 'slow', 'fast', 'slow-motion', 'turn right', 'move backward', and 'stop' randomly to make the train go 'crazy'!

Younger children will love playing this one.

5. Four corners

Four corners is a simple game of chance that can energize students and keep them awake after the lunch hour.

Number of players: 12 or more

You will need: A room with four corners and enough space for a group of students to stand
How to play:

1. Choose one student to be 'It'. Blindfold and send 'It' out of the classroom for a while.

2. Divide the rest of the class into four groups of four students each.

3. Ask each group to pick a corner. Name the corners A, B, C, and D.

4. Once the students are in place, 'It' calls out a corner and all the students standing there are out of the game.

5. The four members of the last group standing will pick a corner each and 'It' continues to eliminate them all until only one student is left.

6. Bleep

Bleep is a memory game that prevents children from using certain words.

Number f players: Ten or more

You will need: Reading material
How to play:
7. Jumping the line

This is an energizer that can be played towards the end of the day and is a great game for revising the day's lessons.

Number of players: 10-15

You will need: Sticky tape or chalk, set of True/False questions, space to play
How to play:
Kids who make a mistake have to go back and sit.

8. Blindfold conversation

This game is an interesting way to make children listen and focus on the voice of another person.

Number of players: Ten or more

You will need: Cloth for blindfolding and space to play
How to play:
If 'It' rightly guesses who the student is, the student becomes 'It'.

English Or Word Games For Classrooms

Reading and writing aren't the only activities or tools for learning a language. There are some fun games as well, which can be used to review and improve a child's vocabulary, grammar, and speaking skills.

9. Dictionary deception

Dictionary deception is a rather challenging game that compels kids to think about a word's meaning. It is great for developing high school students' vocabulary.

Number of players: Six or more

You will need: Sheets of paper, pens, and a list of words
How to play:
The student with the highest number of points wins.

Some words you can use include Aplomb, Brackish, Acumen, Chicane, Diffident, Epiphany, Facetious, Fiduciary, Filibuster, Hubris, Incognito, Jejune, Kowtow, Laissez-faire, Lexicon, Nihilism, Nomenclature, Oligarchy, Paradigm, Pecuniary, Quotidian, Sanguine, Soliloquy, Tempestuous, Totalitarian, Unctuous, Usurp, Vortex, Wrought, and Xenophobe.

10. Board race

Board race is a team building that also works on the child's vocabulary.

Number of players: Six or more

You will need: Board and two different colored markers
How to play:

1. Divide the class into two teams. Give each team a pen.

2. Draw a line in the middle of the board, dividing it into two parts, one each for each team.

3. On one side of the board, write down a word.

4. Following the relay method, each team must write words relevant to the theme of the keyword.

5. The team with the highest number of words for a word scores one point.

11. Chain spelling

This is like interlinking two unrelated words, based on their spellings.

Number of players: Six or more
How to play:
Avoid -ing or -ion words. You can increase the complexity of the game by restricting them to a particular theme or topic.

12. The mime

The mime is a fun game to revise verbs or action words. It can be played with primary or middle schools kids.

Number of players: Ten or more

You will need: A list of action words
How to play:
13. Sentence race

Sentence race is a vocabulary review game that works best with higher classes with more than ten students.

Number of players: Ten or more

You will need: List of 10 vocabulary words, 20 pieces of paper, pen
How to play:

1. Divide the class into two teams.

2. Pick ten or more vocabulary words and write each word on two pieces of paper. You will have two bundles of vocabulary words.

3. Each team gets a bundle and a marker or chalk.

4. Divide the board into two sections, one for each team.

5. When you call out a word out from the list, one student from each team runs to the board and writes a sentence with the word in it.

The team that writes the maximum correct and meaningful sentences with the chosen words, wins.

Memory Games For Kids

Memory games are fun. They compel you to try and recall and reinforce any information that the brain has received. Here are a few you can try in the classroom.

14. Card recall

This memory game involves the use of flashcards to recall something from the short term memory.

Number of players: Ten or more

You will need: Flashcards on chosen subject
How to play:
The student with the highest number of cards wins the game. This game can also be played at home, with two or more people.

15. I'm going on a trip

This is a memory game that involves making lists. Variations of this game can be played by changing 'on a trip' to 'to the market'.

Number of players: Eight or more
How to play:
16. What's missing?

A simple game that works well with younger children, 'What's missing' helps the children try and recall things they have seen recently.

Number of players: Four or more

You will need: Flashcards
How to play:
This game may seem too simple for higher classes, but the younger ones will enjoy exercising their memory.

17. Picture this

Picture this is suitable for students in high school or middle school. It involves paying attention to details.

Number of players: Two or more

You will need: Two or more images with a lot of detail
How to play:
Note that the idea is to help children jog their memory to recall something and not pose difficult questions. So pick questions about a few evident details that most kids notice, along with a couple that only a few observant ones do.

Art Games For Classroom

Children have to pay more attention to what they are doing in an art class. And while they learn how to do that, they can have a little fun too, with these games.

18. Pass the drawing

Yes, pass the drawing. Not the salt or the butter! This game works with all age groups.

Number of players: Eight or more

You will need: Drawing paper, pencils or sketch pens
How to play:
Pass the sheets around for three or four rounds and see the result. It could be a collaborative masterpiece for all you know.

19. All about me hats

With this game, everyone can be a mad hatter. The game encourages creativity using mundane things, or even things considered useless.

Number of players: Five or more

You will need: Hats of different shapes and sizes, stickers, decorative paper and pins, old scraps of fabric
How to play:
They could also spell their names on the hats to wear them to a class party.

20. Art bingo

Bingo is played for money. But art bingo is played for fun.
Number of players:
You will need: Letter sized paper, pens or pencils
How to play:
Write numbers one to 40 on slips of paper and put it in a bag. Pick the numbers randomly to play bingo. Students have to mark the corresponding words, and one who marks all the words first wins.

21. The combination man drawing game

This is an engaging art activity that you can try at beginner level or even advanced art classes. The game works well with kids who can draw human shapes and combine two shapes to form a new one.

Number of players: Six or more

You will need: Papers, color pens or pencils

How to play: Six to eight

In the end, unfold the paper to see the resultant picture - we guarantee there will be laughter!

These classroom games for kids will help keep the children excited for school as they can play and try different games. These games are suitable for learning and help them know their peers better and form a good bond. Plan the games well and incorporate them into their regular class schedules wisely to ensure that they take these games as fun learning experiences and not as distractions.

Do you know of any classroom games for kids? Let us know about them here.
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21 Fun Classroom Games And Activities For Kids

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Fun classroom games for kids are a great way to keep them engaged and learn creatively. If you have a classroom full of hyper-energetic and mischievous kids, getting them to focus and pay attention is a difficult task. However, introducing them to some fun games may be a creative way to involve them in the lessons and activities.

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First Day of School Activities for Big Kids - Teaching with a Mountain View
For the first day of school, this activity is a great icebreaker for students to get to know each other, and teachers as well.

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"I know a word"
You can begin this skills game by saying, "I know a word that starts with the same sound you hear at the beginning of butterfly." Students will raise their hands, and you choose one to tell you a word the starts with "B." Once they tell you the word, toss them the ball. They choose someone else to tell them another word that begins with that letter, passing the ball to the student who gets it right. As the game continues, change the letter every so often. Play until everyone has had a turn. You can use this game for beginning sounds, ending sounds, middle sounds etc. (Richie, 2011).
This is a good game for younger children to start using different words.

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What is the second teacher doing that the first one isn't? He or she is using creativity in that classroom. Creativity makes a huge difference. Creativity is vital for a classroom to be successful. There is a common misconception that the word "creative" has to do mostly with the arts. But being artistic is only a small part of creativity. While any classroom environment would benefit from a teacher blessed with the gift of artistic talent, creativity is many other things.

Creativity is innovation.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. If something isn't working, then it's broken and needs to be fixed. Come up with something else that will work for your students.

Creativity is thinking outside the box.
Everything doesn't always have to be black and white. Sometimes the oddball activities are the ones that work.

Creativity is improvisation.
Things don't always turn out the way you planned. When I've realized that a lesson wasn't working midway through, I literally tossed it out and started over. I tried a different angle (in this case, incorporating a movie that my students liked), and it worked.

Creativity is professional growth.
We don't always have all of the answers. If you can't figure out what to do, use your coworkers as resources. You might find some really great ideas that make sense for your students. Also, look at research and see what has worked for other teachers around the world. Use resources like KS2, hubbardscupboard.org, and starfall.com for some fun engaging activities.

Creativity is being a risk taker or mold breaker.
I have had many crazy ideas for things to try in the classroom. Some have worked and some haven't, but I found that trying was better than being stuck in the same pattern that isn't working.

Creativity is passion.
Be passionate about what you are doing. You are there to inspire students to become lifelong learners. If you want them to love learning, you have to love what you are teaching.

Suggested Activities: The Game of Learning

For the first six activities, seat your students in a circle and introduce a ball or something else they can pass easily between them.

1. "I know a word"
You can begin this skills game by saying, "I know a word that starts with the same sound you hear at the beginning of butterfly." Students will raise their hands, and you choose one to tell you a word the starts with "B." Once they tell you the word, toss them the ball. They choose someone else to tell them another word that begins with that letter, passing the ball to the student who gets it right. As the game continues, change the letter every so often. Play until everyone has had a turn. You can use this game for beginning sounds, ending sounds, middle sounds etc.

2. Rhyme time
Say, "I need a word that rhymes with cat." Pass the ball to someone once they give you a correct rhyming word. Keep changing the starting word and continue the game until all kids have gone.

3. Practice counting
You can have your class practice counting by twos, fives and tens. Pass the ball clockwise or counterclockwise, with the student who receives it saying the number that comes next. For example, you say, "We are going to count by fives. Five!" The person next to you says "ten," the next one says "fifteen," and so on.

4. Spelling review
For older kids, you can pass the ball and go through your spelling words one letter at a time. For example, you say, "We're going to spell the word t heir, as in 'This is their ball.'" The first person says "T," the second person says "H," the third person says "E," and so on. If one says the wrong letter, the next person says correct letter and fixes the mistake.

5. "I need a synonym"
This is a great vocabulary building exercise. You can use the ball or a pair of flyswatters, depending on the age of your students. You say, "I need a synonym for mad." Choose someone to give you another word that means the same thing, such as angry, furious and enraged. For older kids, you can put a list of synonyms on the board and divide the class into two teams. Have one person from each team come up and compete. Whoever slaps the board with the flyswatter and says the correct synonym wins a point for their team. In the end all of your students win a better vocabulary.

6. Reinforce other skills
What other subjects are you teaching? You could adapt these games to fit pretty much anything. "I need a name of an explorer." "I need you to name one of the phases of matter." "I need to know one of the reasons for the Civil War." Be creative!

7. Roll dice to have your students answer story questions.
"What is the plot of the story?" you might ask them. "What is the setting?" You can introduce more reflective questions such as, "Why did this character do what he or she did?" and "What was the author's purpose?" You can write these questions on cards or purchase them from reallygoodstuff.com.

8. Sight Word Slap Game
Write your sight words on the board. Separate your class into two random teams. Let one person from each team step forward and hold a fly swatter. Call out one of the sight words. The first one to slap the correct sight word gets a point for their team. Continue until everyone has gone. This is great for helping sight word recognition.

Suggested Activities: The Artsy Side of Creative

9. Use different voices or accents when reading stories to the class.

10. Dress in costumes of storybook characters to leave a lasting impression, or let students dress up as characters to retell stories.

11. Turn your room into the environment of what you are learning about. When the class is learning about fairy tales, turn your classroom into a castle. When you're learning about animals, turn your classroom into a jungle.

12. Create class songs about topics they need to know, or use the music of singers like Hap Palmer and Jack Hartman. You might also borrow songs and games from coworkers. Songs are catchy, and children learn quickly from them.

Creative Science

13. When teaching about the properties of friction, use KS2 for interactive projects you can do in small groups or as a class using a smart board. You might ask your students slide down the hallway first in their socks, then barefoot, and have them journal about the different amounts of friction.

14. When teaching phases of matter, drop some food coloring into beakers of cold and warm water and note the difference. Then pour the contents of one beaker in a bag and put it in the freezer. The next day, compare the liquid bag with the solid chunk of ice and note differences.

15. Use the ice from the above activity and talk about gravity. Stand on a chair and discuss what will happen if you drop the ice, and if it matters which way you drop it. Let your students predict the possible outcomes.

Incorporate Your Students' Favorite Things

16. Survey your students at the beginning of the year. Get to know them and what they like. Then make a point of using their names, favorite foods, games, books, etc. in word problems, writing exercises, shared reading and many other activities. People do better and learn more when working with things they like. As adults we know that we don't want to do something if it's not fun. The same goes for kids.

Creative time savers

17. Have your students rely on each other as resources. For each table, pick a team leader to try answering his or her classmates' questions before they come to you for help.

18. Pair your higher achievers with lower achievers to study sight words, letters or other skills.

19. Put them into literature circles to discuss books.

20. Have them read one another's writing to check for completion or suggest ideas before they come see you.

21. Use the Leap Frog Reader system. You can plug it into the computer to get student scores on activities, which will provide guidelines for what you need to work on. This is a great way to collect data!

22. Have a "math problem of the day" journal to review skills in which your students scored low on assessments. Put the problem on the board and have them copy it into their journals at the beginning of the day. You can take a minute or two after they have completed it to review the problem with the class. Check notebooks later for understanding.

Live Like a Turtle

For those of you trying to figure out how you'll find the time to integrate all this into an already busy teaching day, here's some food for thought. It will take longer to teach a lesson three times than it will to teach it once using a little creativity. Make time for creativity. Most of the above creative activities take only a few minutes to do. They also require very little prep time and cost very little money, if any. So go ahead -- be a risk taker and try at least one of these ideas this week. I'm sure you won't regret it.

As I said above, everyone has bad days, but overall my classroom is a happy place to be. It's like this because I use creativity to make learning fun. I live by these words that Dr. Ruth once said: "Live life every day like a turtle." To get anywhere, a turtle has to stick its neck out and take a risk. So take risks every day. It's the only way to truly live and make a difference in the world.

What are some of your favorite tips and tricks for bringing creativity into your elementary students?

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22 Simple Ideas for Harnessing Creativity in the Elementary Classroom

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Look through the door of one classroom and you might see the students hunched over, not engaged, even frowning. Look through the door of another classroom, and you might see a room full of lively students, eager, engaged and participating. What is the second teacher doing that the first one isn't?

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This website is perfect for finding useful and fun worksheets for my students to complete. The worksheets can be downloaded for free, which is always nice. This website will be beneficial when I think they need to learn about a subject more for example, writing uppercase and lowercase letters.

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FREE Printable Worksheets - Worksheetfun / FREE Printable Worksheets for Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th Grade.

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Preschool Worksheets Most Popular Preschool & Kindergarten Worksheets Top Worksheets Most Popular Math Worksheets Dice Worksheets Most Popular Preschool and Kindergarten Worksheets Kindergarten Worksheets Math Worksheets on Graph Paper Addition Wor...

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In this website there is many activities and educational games for students to do with regard to animals. Most students love animals, so this would be a good thing for them to do. There are new fun facts about animals every day. Stories are also available to read. You can click on different animals to get more details about them, like if they are endangered, their height, and their habitat.

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This website is good for finding new books for my students and classroom. You can pick different categories and grade levels for the books. I will absolutely be using this website in the future to buy books. The website also has affordable books and it gives the prices, so you can buy them right off the website.

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Book Wizard: Find and Level Books for Your Classroom | Scholastic

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Level your classroom library, create book lists, and find the right book at just the right reading level for students with Book Wizard.

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This website there is many different aspects, like booklists, lesson plans, writing, poetry, and media literacy. This part of the website was all about National Children's Book Week. There is something on this website for every grade. Personally, this was my favorite week in school, so I would want to incorporate this into my teaching.

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Event Description

Children's Book Week encourages children to enjoy new authors and books, and is celebrated in schools, libraries, homes, and bookstores during a selected week in May and November. During this event, celebrate children's literature with storytelling, parties, author and illustrator appearances, and other literacy events in your school and community. As part of the celebration, children are invited to help select the top children's book of the year by voting online or at their school or library.

Classroom Activity

The winners of the Children's Choice book awards will be announced during National Book Week. Before the winners are announced, children across the nation will be able to vote for their favorites. Invite your students to show why their favorite finalist should win by designing a promotional book cover.

First, have students read Children's Choice finalist books in their grade range. Younger students can read all five finalists, while older students may read fewer.

Then, ask each student to select his or her favorite finalist and brainstorm reasons why it is so good. Encourage students to consider specific elements, such as characters or plot.

Next, have students look at their brainstormed lists and select the ideas that could be depicted on the book cover. Challenge each student to design a book cover that will convince others that his or her favorite should win.

Finally, have students use the Book Cover Creator to create their book covers. They can then display their book covers with the book in a classroom or school display or on a bulletin board.

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Celebrate National Children's Book Week!

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Event Description Children's Book Week encourages children to enjoy new authors and books, and is celebrated in schools, libraries, homes, and bookstores during a selected week in May and November. During this event, celebrate children's literature with storytelling, parties, author and illustrator appearances, and other literacy events in your school and community.

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This website is perfect for finding teaching lessons about history. There are different topics one could choose like Asian Pacific heritage and history. This is a government website, therefore I know it is a reliable website to use. There is also media resources and other lesson plans. The grades are sixth through 12th so this would be more if I taught middle school.

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Since 1988, the U.S. Government has set aside the period from September 15 to October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month to honor the many contributions Hispanic Americans have made and continue to make to the United States of America. Our Teacher's Guide brings together resources created during NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes, lesson plans for K-12 classrooms, and think pieces on events and experiences across Hispanic history and heritage.

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Since 1988, the U.S. Government has set aside the period from September 15 to October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month to honor the many contributions Hispanic Americans have made and continue to make to the United States of America.

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Math is an important part of curriculum. This is a free website with an in depth description of almost every math topic. If you click on a grade and then click "Hands on Activities" it will give you a list of exciting activities for students to do. Students may also play games on this website if there is a computer lab one day.

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First Grade Hands-On Activities

Count and determine the value of a collection of the same type of coins (pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters) whose total value is $1.00 or less.

Count and determine the value of a mixed collection of coins (combinations of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters) whose total value is $1.00 or less.

Know the exchange value of coins. For example, how many nickels have the same value as a dime.

Measure weight and length with non-standard measurements. For example, how many paper clip lengths are the same as the length and width of a piece of paper.

Compare the capacities of two containers and describe the relative capacities as holding more, less or the same, or being larger, smaller or the same size.

Compare the weight of two objects using a scale or balance and describe the relative weight as heavier, lighter or the same weight.

Compare the length of two objects and describe the relative length as longer, shorter or the same length. Learn the terms taller, shorter, wider and narrower.

Describe how objects are located in space in relation to other objects such as near, far, close by, below, above, up, down, beside, next to, to the right of, to the left of etc.

Draw geometric figures such as circles, triangles, rectangles and squares.

Describe common geometric figures by the number of straight or curved sides, angles, corners and square corners.

Find geometric shapes in common objects (circles, squares, triangles, rectangles).

Display collected information in an object graph. Describe the categories by the relative terms more, less, fewer, greater than, less than and about equal.

Sort and classify objects by similar characteristics, e.g. circles, squares, rectangles, triangles.

Sort and classify objects by two characteristics, e.g. blue triangles, large circles, etc.

Create, recognize, describe and extend a variety of patterns such as numbers, letters, shapes, colors, size, rhythmic and actions.

© Copyright 2006 J. Banfill. All Rights Reserved.Legal Notice

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AAA Math features a comprehensive set of interactive arithmetic lessons. Unlimited practice is available on each topic which allows thorough mastery of the concepts.

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Learning for Justice, is a great resource to figure out how to explain those hard but necessary topics to children. The topics they cover are religion, class, ability, bullying/bias, rights/activism, race/ethnicity, immigration, and gender/sexual identity. In order for students to have a good future they need to know that talking about these topics are okay.

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Learning for Justice is a community education program of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) that centers civic and political action education for everyone.

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If I need help or some help with my teaching career, I will use this website for tips. I know there are good tips on this website because it is from a edu website. Also, this list was made by an older teacher.

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When I was a new teacher, I got a lot of practical teaching tips from veteran colleagues. One tip was to seat kids alphabetically so I'd learn their names quickly. Another was to use a laminated hall pass to avoid writing a new one every time a student asked to go to the bathroom. Most, but not all, of their tips were useful-I decided not to make kids turn their desks around and face the wall if they misbehaved.

As a veteran educator myself, it's now my duty to share teaching tips, based on what I've learned over time, that might be useful to perspective teachers or those just starting their careers.

1. Don't Grade Everything

When I was a new teacher, I dragged home a briefcase stuffed with students' work every night. I collected everything-homework, rough drafts, work sheets-and spent my evenings and weekends trying to grade it all.
Further reading: Formative Assessments
Then I went to a workshop that explained that grades should indicate progress toward mastery, not whether kids had done homework. I continued to grade tests, of course, but I learned to use classroom strategies like writing workshops and think-pair-share so kids could share their work and learn together.

2. Let Students Know What's Going On

I used to just hand out the books and start teaching, but it's a lot easier to get where you want to go if everyone's onboard. Students should know what they're going to learn, why they're learning it, and how it'll be evaluated. I also learned to use a rubric so that kids know right from the beginning how their work will be evaluated and, therefore, what they should strive for.

3. Explain Procedures and Expectations

It's a mistake to assume the students in your class know how to work in a group or how to behave on a field trip. However, most kids will cooperate if they know what they're supposed to do. Remember, as an educator, you have to teach not only the "what" but the "how."

4. How You Treat Students Matters

What you say to students, or how you treat them, can make or break their day. When I was a new teacher, I didn't fully understand how an off-handed comment or criticism could affect a child. Once my own kids started school and came home with stories about what their teachers said or did, I realized the impact we can have on students. After that, I kept a poster in my room that said, "They won't always remember what you taught them, but they'll always remember how you treated them."

5. You Don't Know Every Kid's Home Life

A friend of mine teaches at a high school where 44 different languages are spoken, and she told me that she overheard a student say, "I'm really tired. Last night, I had to sleep next to someone who snored." Kids might be dealing with issues we know nothing about, so don't assume video games are to blame when homework isn't done.

6. Keep Your Sense of Humor

I was so serious about being a good teacher, I didn't see the role humor could play in my classroom. After a few years though, when I had more skills and more confidence, I was able to let my guard down and actually be funny or silly. Even better, my students began to understand that they could make jokes now and then, and we could all laugh together.

7. Socializing with Colleagues Is Good for You

Whether it's the faculty holiday party, Relay for Life, or stopping at the local pub for a drink on Friday, sharing the joys and frustrations of teaching and supporting one another is essential to your well-being. Forming close bonds with a colleague can even improve your levels of job satisfaction, so don't isolate yourself.

8. Your Connection to Your Students Might Surprise You

I've known teachers who loved their subject and loved teaching, but who didn't necessarily love kids. They didn't dislike kids; they just kept their professional distance. I was like that at the very beginning of my career. But as I became more skilled and comfortable in the classroom, I began to really enjoy connecting with my students as people, and teaching became a lot more fun.

At the end of the year, I always ask my students to write a letter to their core teachers, telling us what they liked, what they didn't like, and how we could improve. The letters are honest, funny, and often heartfelt. One student wrote: "I loved all my classes (math best of all) and I knew you guys cared about us." I didn't even teach math, but I kept that letter.
Further reading: A Teacher's Love for Punk Rock Music Helps Her Connect to Students
As I look back, I realize that my focus as an educator was always on the best ways to interact with kids. Maybe that's the most important tip. Make sure your students know that you care about them, and the rest will fall into place.

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8 Essential Teaching Tips from Someone Who Has Seen It All

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When I was a new teacher, I got a lot of practical teaching tips from veteran colleagues. One tip was to seat kids alphabetically so I'd learn their names quickly. Another was to use a laminated hall pass to avoid writing a new one every time a student asked to go to the bathroom.

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Kids love animals and science so this is a great website to introduce to your students. You can click on animals and learn in full detail about different animals. It would be fun to have a fun fact animal day a week and have the students learn about a new animal each week. Possibly at the end of the school year there could be a project about one of the animals. There is also great videos to play to the students for science lessons.

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When I shadowed a teacher the students had a computer lab and they all went on PBS Kids. Also, I remember using PBS Kids as a young student and loving it. If there is a rainy day, we can all play a game together. There are many different topics of games students can do. This website has bright colors and it is perfectly designed for kids.

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Educational games and videos from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Wild Kratts and other PBS KIDS shows!

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YouTube is always a great resource to find educational videos. This is also free to use, which is always good for teachers. YouTube is such a large platform therefore there will be many videos to find. I personally love YouTube and educational videos are good for students to see a different perspective.

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TED-Ed is a great website to find videos and lesson plans all curated for students and teachers. This is a sister website to TED Talk, therefore I will know the information is accurate. They have many different topics on this website, so I will able to find a topic for every lesson.

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Bring TED-Ed Student Talks to Your School

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Transform your classroom with TED-Ed! Discover hundreds of animated lessons, create customized lessons, and inspire your students to share their big ideas.

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Article #1 3 Grading Practices That Should Change

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Article #1 3 Grading Practices That Should Change

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This article is about how teachers should grade instead of the old classic ways.

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Moving Away From Traditional Practices

1. Averaging scores over time: Most grade books average scores over time. We teach for a semester and evaluate students at different intervals. For a student who comes in with strong skills, this feels like a fine practice.

But think about this scenario: Marisa came to class with super-strong skills and aced the whole year. Jacob's performance was fine to start out, it improved over time, and he ended up at the same place as Marisa. Elias's and Taylor's journeys were more of a struggle, but they worked hard, and you did a fantastic job teaching them! If at the end of the semester all four students have the same level of understanding, shouldn't their grade reflect their current level of knowledge?

Everyone learns at a different pace. Should we penalize students who had a bad foundational experience, may have experienced some trauma that caused a temporary dip, or just take more time to learn something new? No. I think all four students deserve the same grade if they demonstrate the same level of understanding. Grade books communicate teacher values.

Over the past few years, teaching students a growth mindset has pervaded teacher blogs and ed speak. However, I think that the way teachers typically grade completely undermines the talk about a growth mindset. If our grading practices don't promote, encourage, and reward growth, then we don't value it. How do we show kids that their growth matters? We eliminate averaging scores over time and do something else instead.

This is how my practice has evolved: I consistently update old performance scores with new and more accurate ones. Students get unlimited retakes on assessments. I require them to continually practice essential content and demonstrate retention of that content. I tell students that learning doesn't stop after an assessment. An assessment isn't a final judgment, it's a progress marker. I believe that every student can succeed in my class.

I tell them, "I will not give up on you just because you don't know how to do something yet." I stick to that statement, and it's reflected in my grade book. If a student scores below proficient on a standard, mandatory retakes are assigned and completed during class time. Students are given individualized opportunities to practice and are reassessed after they've learned more. I only keep the most recent reports of demonstrated proficiency. This also requires retention of content knowledge, which has always been a problem in math classes.

2. Adding elements other than content understanding into grading: I've had students who passed my class, but I knew they had little content understanding. I've also had students who I knew understood the material pretty well but had a really low grade. How? Students with inflated grades might have tutors who do their homework, so they collect the "busywork" points, and they might copy work or use Photomath to complete assignments.

In reality, with a 60/40 split of assessments and classwork/homework, a student could fail every test (averaging 33 percent) but do all of the "work" and still pass. The student doesn't know the content, but they'll pass.

It's worrisome when grades don't accurately reflect that a student needs extra attention. Alternatively, a student with good content knowledge and a poor grade is likely in this predicament because they don't demonstrate good "studenting" behaviors. Instead of grades reflecting these behaviors, it's more accurate for them to focus on content knowledge.

I now base 100 percent of a student's grade on demonstrated proficiency of learning targets.

"They don't get points for their work?"

"Nope."

"Do they still do work?"

"Yeah."

"Do some kids have missing assignments?"

"Yup."

I report those work habits in the online gradebook to parents so they can support their kids, but those points don't affect the numerical grade (positively or negatively). There's no more point grabbing, and students do the work because we've built a culture of work that yields results.

I constantly talk about the correlation between practice and performance. Kids understand this connection thanks to sports, dance, video games, and other hobbies. Why wouldn't we lean into that connection with something as important as education?

3. Reporting opaque scores like "Quiz 4B: 71%": I'm extremely transparent with students and parents on what their grade is. I report on students' current level of understanding on specific learning targets that are based upon learning progressions designed with my colleagues. Using my professional judgment of student understanding, I score assessments on a proficiency scale:

4-Nearing Mastery (A)

3-Proficient (B)

2-Emerging (C)

1-Not Yet (D)

0-No Evidence of Learning (F)

If an assessment covers four learning targets, the assessment results in four separate scores in my grade book:

Target 1: 4 (A)

Target 2: 2 (C)

Target 3: 2 (C)

Target 4: 1 (D)

I have current data on each target for each student. Everyone transparently sees where this student is excelling and where they are struggling. If this is the only thing in the grade book, the student's overall grade would be a C (9 / 4 = 2.25). That feels accurate to me.

Alternatively, if I graded this test based solely on percent correct (and let's assume each target had four problems), the student would have 9 / 16 (56%), which is traditionally an F. That feels inaccurate to me. Based on my professional judgment, this student has passing knowledge on three out of four topics and really good understanding on one of them.

Do they really deserve to fail with that level of demonstrated knowledge? This way of reporting grades to students allows them to take more ownership of their learning path. They can track their progress over time, set goals, and see how they advance.

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1. Averaging scores over time: Most grade books average scores over time. We teach for a semester and evaluate students at different intervals. For a student who comes in with strong skills, this feels like a fine practice. But think about this scenario: Marisa came to class with super-strong skills and aced the whole year.

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Article #4 Teachers of Special-Needs Students Struggle With Feelings of Helplessness

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Article #4 Teachers of Special-Needs Students Struggle With Feelings of Helplessness

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I want to be a Special Needs education teacher, so I thought this was interesting. I hope when I start teaching we still won't have to do some remote learning/teaching, but if we do this might give me some motivation.

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Article #2 Helping Students Reacclimate to Being With Others All Day

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Article #2 Helping Students Reacclimate to Being With Others All Day

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Students are having a hard time going back to school, and communicating with other students. This article is all about how teachers can try to fix this issue.

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The start of the 2021-22 school year has been rough. Students across the world are experiencing "broken belongings"-a detachment from others-as the pandemic created conditions of relative isolation and a significant amount of chronic unpredictability within communities and home environments during the past 20 months.

We can observe this detachment in student behaviors, which are signals of a nervous system dysregulated by often toxic levels of stress. Our schools are being challenged to return to some type of normalcy even as we move through the third academic year of a global pandemic. The social loss our students are carrying is palpable.

Two mornings and afternoons a week, I am co-teaching in seventh-grade classrooms in a large middle school, and as I walk down Hallway B, I feel the tension in the air. As a staff, we are wondering how to reclaim feelings of safety and connection so that sustainable learning can occur. The nervous system is social, and has plasticity, but we require safety and a sense of belonging to access the frontal regions of the brain that hold our abilities to problem-solve, pay attention, emotionally regulate, and thoughtfully respond, which we all need to feel competent, autonomous, and motivated.

The destructive TikTok challenges that have gone viral in many of our secondary schools, accompanied by defiance and destruction of school property, are behaviors that demonstrate how distorted belonging feels better to students than the isolation of the recent past-these highly irrational challenges are often driven by the developmental need for attachment to others.

We need to harness students' energy and attachment to each other, and follow the nature of the child. Our seventh-grade team has been meeting to cultivate ways we can begin to rebuild trust and connection through our procedures with the increase of predictability, safety, and relational conditions. We are and will be continuing to integrate these practices at the beginning and end of classes and during transitions.

Focusing Students' Feelings of Attachment Productively

Board games: We are setting up board game days twice a month in our advisory classes in our middle schools, and two times a week in the elementary schools, integrating these times within our procedures and setting up station rotations where students move from Battleship to Guess Who, Operation, Connect Four, and many other games focusing on cooperation, collaboration attention and fun. The goal here is to have students rotate to different games and different partners to relearn how to be with one another without technology.

We will not be using our Chromebooks or phones as we set up group norms-through discussions with the students-to establish expectations and predictability:

What does cooperation look like?

How do we disagree?

What are the best ways to move from station to station?

The focus is not on winning but on collaboration and inclusion. What will this look like?

Creative expression: When we draw, journal, and create with free-style art mediums, we can express beliefs, feelings and sensations of pain, hurt, disappointment and loss, creating images of these emotions and conditions. This kind of expression can help students share their unique identities through language, beliefs, and cultural celebrations, which schools often misunderstand because they come from social and cultural norms and values of a community different from the social and cultural norms and values of the school.

Focused Attention Practices

Focused attention practices require connection with others as they help prepare our nervous systems for a state of calm alertness. We integrate these practices throughout our procedures, providing practices that deepen collaboration and empathy.

Dedicate This One: In this focused attention practice, students create an image or write a few words that they want to share about someone they appreciate. As they think of this person, they breathe deeply for one minute, sharing their love and hopes through images or words of gratitude and comfort. They then have the option of sharing their dedication with a partner.

Sharing Worries and Celebrations: Students write down or draw a worry, problem, or even a celebration they want to share. Folding up the paper, they hand it off to a partner. Partners then respond to one another with an image or words. Before implementing this practice, we need to discuss agreements and trust within our classroom, and doing this activity should always be a choice.

Coregulating With Your Partner: Have a student choose a partner. Without talking, one student should find a rhythm in their breathing, body percussion, or drumming on the desk, and see if their partner can match the pattern. Then they can change it up as the other person takes the lead.

Mirror Me: In this coregulatory practice, one partner creates a pattern of body movements-such as a jumping jack followed by squatting or arm movements-that the other person will mirror back. It's fun for students to speed up and slow down these movements to see how closely their partner can follow. Students in each pair take turns leading.

Dual Drawing and Journaling: In this coregulatory practice, partners share a sheet of paper for one to two minutes. When the time starts, one partner draws a line or shape and then passes it to the other person so they can add a line or a shape; they continue to do this for the set time period without talking to one another. When the time is up, they can talk about what they drew together, giving it a title and any description that feels appropriate to both of them.

In a variation on this, students can use the same pattern with dual journaling or storytelling. For the set time period, students pass a sheet of paper back and forth, contributing a sentence or two at a time to create a story together. The teacher can provide prompts about places, objects, or other themes so that students can connect their stories to what they're learning or to each other. They may write about their similarities, differences, interests, or passions.

Compassion for others draws upon brain networks for empathy, and when these networks are activated, we develop the nervous system states that cultivate kindness-and kindness is the most therapeutic practice for transformational change.

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Helping Students Reacclimate to Being With Others All Day

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The start of the 2021-22 school year has been rough. Students across the world are experiencing "broken belongings"-a detachment from others-as the pandemic created conditions of relative isolation and a significant amount of chronic unpredictability within communities and home environments during the past 20 months.

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Article #5 Can the Lockdown Push Schools in a Positive Direction?

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Article #5 Can the Lockdown Push Schools in a Positive Direction?

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This article is about how we can turn the school's lockdowns for covid-19 into something positive, like figuring out the injustices at schools.

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Can the Lockdown Push Schools in a Positive Direction?

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Here are five ways that COVID-19 could change education for the better.

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Article #3 How to Survive First Year of Teaching

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Article #3 How to Survive First Year of Teaching

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The first year of teaching seems like it is going to be hard, so it will be nice to have this resource of tips to look back on.

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Do's and don'ts, resources, and expert advice on how to navigate challenges as a new teacher and make the successful transition from college to classroom.

Meet the Expert

Hailey Reynolds

Middle School Teacher
View Bio
Hailey Reynolds comes from a family of educators. Her mother was a veteran Kindergarten teacher for close to 30 years, while she is currently in her fifth year as an educator. She teaches middle school social studies at a Title I school in Georgia. She holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Belmont University and an M.A. in Elementary Education from Tennessee Technical University.

You've graduated college, completed your student teaching, earned your teaching credential, been offered a position, and are ready to jump into the classroom head first. But before your first day, it's important to recognize the challenges that await many new teachers. According to the Learning Policy Institute, studies show that between 19 and 30 percent of teachers leave within their first five years due to low pay, lack of administrative support, poor work conditions, and other reasons. And the first year can be the most challenging of all. Teachers like you are the cornerstone of our educational system, but often lack the resources needed to succeed - or aren't sure where to find them.

We're here to fill that gap with this guide, which provides meaningful support through helpful resources and expert tips, whether you're teaching Pre-K children or college freshmen. Read on to learn how you and other teachers can make it through your first year and come out stronger on the other side.

Biggest Challenges for First-Year Teachers and How to Overcome Them

As a first-year teacher, you'll face a lot of new challenges, but there are things you can do to feel more confident and in control. Our teaching expert, Hailey Reynolds, breaks down eight of the biggest ones below, and we provide some helpful solutions to break past them.

Making the Jump from College to the Classroom

Transitioning from being a student to a teacher is an exciting time, but it's not unusual to feel overwhelmed or discouraged in the beginning. When in school, you don't have to worry about being the lead teacher. When student teaching, you are observing other educators or teaching under the observation of those who already hold their teaching license. Making the transition to being the person in charge of a group of students can feel terrifying, but there are things you can do to make the move go more smoothly.

Remember what not to do.
While so much of your college coursework focuses on best practices regarding classroom management and lesson planning, sometimes the lessons you learn come in unexpected forms. "It's not until you start student teaching that you are on your feet all day and seeing what it's like to be a teacher," says Reynolds. "My student teaching experience helped me learn a lot about what I didn't want to do in the classroom."

Start strong on your first day.
Despite the many things that may feel outside your control, plenty of components can be planned before your first day. "Try to have your room organized and anticipate what you might need during those first few lessons," encourages Reynolds.

Make changes as needed.
After getting through your first few weeks, reassess and consider what works and what doesn't. The first plan may have served you well during the early days of school, but that doesn't mean it will work long-term. "I think you need to be willing to make changes and reassess, even though you started your room in a certain way," says Reynolds. "Don't be afraid to make changes if you find it's not working after a couple weeks."

Take These 4 Key Lessons with You to the Classroom

Implementing every lesson you learned while in school or during student teaching isn't possible, but there are certain takeaways worth remembering - especially in your first year.

What You Didn't Learn in School but You'll Be Glad You Know

Some things simply can't be taught, as evidenced by what you learn on the fly after graduating.

The value of relationships.
"My coworkers get me through the day," says Reynolds. "Knowing I can ask them for advice on how to handle a situation is invaluable, as is knowing that someone else simply 'gets it.'"

Not enough time exists.
"There will never be enough time in your day to teach, plan, grade, review data, participate in committees, contact parents, and build relationships with kids," stresses Reynolds. "You can't really prepare for that, you just have to try and keep balance as you navigate your first year."

Real-life teaching can't be mimicked.
"The education program I graduated from was amazing, but no degree can fully prepare you," says Reynolds. "In class, you learn best practices, design elaborate lesson plans, and study theory, but when you're the teacher you often only have time to think about delivering material that meets testing standards - regardless of how creative."

Do's and Don'ts for First-Year Teachers

Regardless of your grade or content area, there are plenty of rules to keep in mind for having a successful first year.

Advice for First-Year Teachers from a Teacher Who's Been There

Hailey Reynolds
Middle School Teacher

Hailey Reynolds comes from a family of educators. Her mother was a veteran Kindergarten teacher for close to 30 years, while she is currently in her fifth year as an educator. She teaches middle school social studies at a Title I school in Georgia. She holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Belmont University and an M.A. in Elementary Education from Tennessee Technical University.

Resources for New Teachers

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First-Year Teacher Survival Guide: Tips & Advice for Success

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Do's and don'ts, resources, and expert advice on how to navigate challenges as a new teacher and make the successful transition from college to classroom. Meet the Expert Hailey Reynolds Middle School Teacher View Bio Hailey Reynolds comes from a family of educators.